Just a second
by Fayth3
Summary: The Doctor has a place to go when he's lost a companion so why has the TARDIS taken him and Rose there?


**Just a second.

* * *

**

Rose sat back on the sweet smelling apple-grass and smiled back at the Doctor who had taken to playing with her hair.

Currently he was weaving his fingers in and out of the delicate blonde strands and plaiting it, then un-plaiting it and laughing as his fingers caught.

Rose savoured the feeling of contentment and comfort as she stared at the lavender sky and just enjoyed the novelty of not running for her life.

"Penny for your thoughts?" The Doctor said suddenly and she back peered over her shoulder at him with mischief dancing in her eyes.

"Is that an Avarian penny or maybe a Grillig penny?"

He tapped her nose with a bright smile. "Smarty-Rose. It's a Heo penny which is worth…."

"Four times as much as a Trurug," Rose quoted and settled back. "Five Trurgs to a Kodash."

The Doctor felt a rush of pride inside him and he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her between his legs. "Rose Tyler, space currency expert."

Rose laughed and he joined her in her mirth.

"Why are we here?" she asked. "Not that I'm complaining, mind. Love this planet."

"Me too," the Doctor plucked some apple-grass and inhaled. "I like to come here often, it's the peace and quiet. I come here to think and relax."

"You?" Rose teased. "Didn't think you knew the meaning of the word."

"Oi!" He poked her side but refused to allow her to move. He was enjoying having her in his arms far too much.

They sat in silence for a few moments and then he spoke, low and hesitant. "I come here when it gets too much."

Rose stilled knowing how much talking about his past meant to him, and to her and she just listened, holding his arms tight around her.

"When I remember that I'm alone without my kind, or when I lose a companion, or when it just gets too much. I come here and the place … calms me." He swallowed. "I've never brought anyone here before."

Rose gripped his hand and allowed her head to fall back onto his shoulder, looking up into his haunted eyes. "I'm here, I'm not much, but I'm here."

He glanced down at her earnest face and smiled softly, the pain leaving his expression. "Yes you are. You're my Rose."

"And I'm not going anywhere."

He tightened his grip. "No, you're not."

Not if he could help it.

"You said you come here when it gets too much," Rose said hesitantly. "Are you feeling low, Doctor?"

"No!" He looked around. "I'm not and I didn't head for this place. The TARDIS obviously felt that we needed to be here, for some reason."

"Maybe she thought you needed a break. We have been going non-stop since the black hole."

"It was too close to losing you," he admitted. "Maybe she realised that we needed this."

Rose hugged the precious words close to her. He didn't often acknowledge what they were to each other and so, when he did, she memorised the moment and kept the words close to her heart.

"Besides," he said, breaking the soft mood. "Distraction, Rose Tyler. I offered you a Heo penny for your thoughts and I was brutally ignored."

She rolled her eyes. "Don't think my thoughts are worth that much." Rose stretched slightly and hugged the Doctor's arm. "I was just thinking how nice it is not to have to leg it."

He planted his chin into her shoulder and stared out over the distance. "Yeah, sometimes it's nice to stop and smell the Roses." He punctuated that by digging his nose into the side of her neck and sniffing wildly causing her to giggle and squirm.

"Oi, pack it in!" she giggled, which caused him to renew his attack, breathing her in and tickling his nose up and down her nape and collar bone.

The sudden sound of the TARDIS made them both jump and the Doctor's head snapped up to where the blue box stood behind them like a silent sentry, unmoving.

Wait, silent and unmoving, so what made the noise?

Rose's soft gasp made him look back to in front of them where a very familiar blue TARDIS was materialising.

"Wha—?" Rose gave him a quick glance over her shoulder to see a look of dawning realisation on his face, followed by a soft, sweet smile.

"Riight," he said gently. "Of course."

"What?" Rose urged.

He hugged her tightly. "Present for you, Rose," he whispered as the doors opened.

A tall, short-haired man with dark, heavy eyes and a battered leather jacket stepped out from the TARDIS, his head down and Rose's jaw dropped.

"Doctor?"

His head shot up and his eyes opened wide as they saw her. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Rose's own eyes were about to fall out of her head. "You … you're … what?"

He stepped forward in amazement. "I just left you over three million years back on Earth with your beans on toast and boyfriend."

"Boyfriend?" Rose frowned.

"Though it looks like you got a new one." He jammed his hands into his pockets, his face once again closed and shuttered, like he'd been when she'd first met him.

"Hello!" the new Doctor peered out over her shoulder and grinned.

Rose pulled out of the Doctor's embrace and stood up. "It's you!"

"Yeah, me." He shifted his shoulders. "So what?"

"No, I mean—" Rose pointed over her shoulder. "He's you. Or will be you. He's the Doctor."

A slow look of comprehension started to fill his face. "Next regeneration?"

Rose nodded eagerly.

He sniffed. "So you wouldn't come with me, but pretty boy is okay, then yeah?"

"Pretty boy?" the new Doctor bristled. "I don't think I'm pretty."

Rose frowned. "What are you talkin' about?"

"Sexy, maybe but not pretty."

"You, twerp of a boyfriend calling me a thing," the older Doctor snapped. "Remember?"

"Would you say I'm pretty?"

Rose turned and glared. "Yeah, very. What's going on, Doctor?"

He smiled apologetically and moved closer.

"Remember what I said," her new Doctor said as he placed a hand on her shoulder. "I come here when I lose a companion, or I feel alone."

Rose stared at him. "But he never lost me, I was there all the time."

"You said no," the older Doctor spat. "I offered you anywhere in the universe and you turned me down. I don't ask twice. Left you in the alley with that useless lump of a boyfriend."

"But you came back."

He blinked. "I did?"

Rose nodded and broke into a huge grin. "You came back for me. Like seconds later."

Her new Doctor leaned over, his lips brushing her ear. "I did say it travels in time."

Rose glanced over her shoulder at him. "This is where you went?"

"Yup!" He popped the word and beamed.

The other Doctor shrugged. "You said no. I don't ask twice."

Rose darted forwards and grabbed his hand, almost crying at how familiar it felt, how right. "Doctor, I wanted to go with you, but I was torn between doing the right thing and what my heart wanted. If you'd've pushed even the slightest I woulda been there like a shot. As it was, all you had to do was come back." Rose reached up to touch his face, wonder in her eyes.

"Best decision you ever made." The Doctor said from somewhere behind her.

The older one stared at him. "Yeah?"

"Oh yes." The new Doctor held a hand out and Rose's slipped into it. He pulled her against him and wrapped her in his embrace, both looking at the older Doctor.

"Rose and _her _Doctor," he said proudly.

"Stuff of legend," she added.

The older version looked between the two of them, like he couldn't quite believe it.

Her new Doctor stepped away and moved in closer to him.

"I remember being you. I remember the hurt and the pain and the emptiness. I remember being lonely." He lifted his chin. "Of all I've done I wouldn't trade this for anything." His eyes pierced with a message so very deep. "Not even for Arcadia. It's selfish, but I don't care. Rose is … worth all the monsters. Go back for her. I swear to you, you'll never regret it."

The older Doctor sniffed. "She means that much?"

"Oh, so much more," he all but whispered. "Go back."

Rose pushed in between them and touched his jacket. "Don't make me miss this."

"Hey, I offered you the opportunity to travel," he said, his mind awhirl. "Not just a London Hopper, I said."

"It's not the travelling. That don't matter. It's _you_." She leaned up on tiptoe and kissed him, full on the mouth.

She pulled away to two sets of shocked eyes. "Don't make me miss _you_."

"Right!" the older Doctor suddenly seemed less old as he grinned widely. "Well, that's fantastic!"

"And that's mine!" the new Doctor said in protest and pulled Rose back to him. "Get your own!"

"You know what?" the Doctor beamed. "I think I will, pretty boy."

"Yeah, now bugger off. _Pretty_?" the new Doctor muttered, kicking at the apple-grass. "So says Dumbo."

The older Doctor just grinned as he stepped back into the TARDIS.

"You should probably mention it travels in time!" Rose yelled as the door closed. She threw her head back in delight as the sound of the TARDIS dematerialised.

Spinning around she couldn't stop the bubbles of life that sprung from her lips. "Full circle. He goes back and I get all this!" She opened her arms wide as she spun. "Fantastic!"

The Doctor laughed at the giddy girl as she danced around the beautiful meadow, her arms outstretched and hair flying like a blonde sheet behind her.

She was gorgeous. She was also the reason why he wouldn't have come here until she was long gone. Now, whenever he came back, he'd remember her like this, dancing and free, delirious with happiness at just being able to be with him.

His soul felt lighter.

"He also got a kiss and, by my reckoning, that makes twice you've kissed him and me? I get possessed-Rose kiss. That's hardly fair! I'll complain."

"To who?" she asked. "My mum?"

"Ah." He scratched the back of his head. "Good point."

She danced over, here eyes shining brightly. "If you want a kiss, all you have to do is ask."

"Oh, I don't know, maybe you think I was better looking than I am." He sniffed and looked away with a mock-hurt expression. "I mean, you did kiss the other me and that me didn't even have to ask. I really wasn't that good looking, you know, those ears and that nose! Honestly the amount of times that nose was going to get me into trouble and I could hear just about everything. You try waking up and hearing the coffee brewing in Brazil."

"I happened to think you were gorgeous." Rose defended. "Sexy even."

"But I'm sexier now, right?" He gave her a wink.

"Nah," Rose stuck her tongue between her teeth in teasing. "Now you're just another pretty boy!"

"Pretty!" He reached for her. "Come here, Rose Tyler and I'll show you pretty!"


End file.
